30 October 2006

Fun @ the Monster Mash

Got to cover a Halloween party over the weekend...what a blast!

These people spent a YEAR planning this. Dozens of professional performers were hired and cast to be

various characters in the 'haunted-house' maze in front of the main house.

Due to a few technical problems though, there was a slight delay in the start of the 'haunted-maze'.
Most people didn't notice...they were busy having fun outside on the dancefloor
that had been cleverly created over the pool

using panels of plexiglass so the guests could see the severed body parts, a mermaid and the skeleton of a pirate below in the murky water...still protecting his treasure chest!

Overall, it was a good night and a GREAT party!!


Lots of odd characters and cool costumes - even a real alligator...and the food was supurb!

The local police showed-up about midnight...guess they were upset about the decorations out front, or bored, so figured they should check out the party.
We finally left about 0130...
as the batteries to my video camera were dying (how appropriate!).

(more on that - and "Jack" above - later on).

20 October 2006

where will you be in 100 or a 1000 years?

surfing the 'net this evening, i happen to stumble upon an interesting project.

It's a 'digital' time capsule. Something yahoo is doing. you can check it out at:

http://timecapsule.yahoo.com/capsule.php


and decide for yourself if it's worth contributing to.

18 October 2006

open WIDE !!

Remember those hilarious "Real Men of Genius" commercials heard on the radio hawking Bud Light?

One of my faves is the "Hot dog-eating-contest contestant", where the background singer is offering up little gems like "Get me to a bathroom", and "...my left arm feels tingly!".

Once again, life is imitating art (or commercialism?), with a NEW concoction:

the peanut butter filled hot dog.

Yes, America...apparently the REAL reason those rock-rats in a certain Middle East country have put a jihad on us:

they didn't come up with this tasty idea first.

Here's the story from TV station KXAN:

http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=5108335&nav=0s3d

17 October 2006

Friday the 13th claims another victim...

One of our engineering staff - lets call him Kirk - came to the hangar to work on a big mobile lightboard that had some of the LED modules in need of repair.
He asked me to help him move the heavy trailer the lightboard was fastened on, to another hangar so he would have more room to work on it.

We tried moving the heavy monstrosity (loaded down even more with a row of lead-acid car batteries on it!), by hand and a small tow-bar-type contraption.

Bad idea.

he pulled, i pushed.

he lost his footing and slipped...almost getting run-over by the trailer in the process and splitting his head open on the asphalt.

Luckily, it was just a head-wound. An icepack quickly brought the swelling down to a somewhat dull THROB.

Rumour has it he'll be dressed up as John Kennedy this Halloween - you might see him driving by in the back of his rented 1961 Lincoln Continental Four-door convertible limousine.



The carnage as viewed later (complete with blood spatter in pink).

11 October 2006

Uhhhhh (tap-tap-tap), is this thing on?

ignore this...it's just a test to see if i can type at all.